


Stranger

by Aristotaeles



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, Stranger Things AU, one shot (for now), renjun would be eleven but he doesnt show up in this lol, this got out of hand help, uhhh this is just an intro??? i might write more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 15:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19815490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aristotaeles/pseuds/Aristotaeles
Summary: It's the last day of summer vacation before they go to 8th grade and all they want to do is play D&D forever in Mark's basement. Unfortunately, that's not what happens at all.OR: the nct dream stranger things au nobody asked for but we still all deserve.





	Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little intro I wrote because the second season gave me the idea and the third compelled me to write lol  
> Imma mark this as a one shot but if anyone is interested on me continuing this just hit me on the comments or my writing tumblr (monxcarat) or twitter (fishermanjaebum) and ill do it lol

The night had already fallen, the last rays of sun long gone, casting the city in a cloak of darkness, as even the moon failed to illuminate the cloudy evening. It was a nice weather, chilly winds breaking the last  remnants of a hot day, like summer clinging to  autumn . It was in this night, inside a respectable house in a suburban neighborhood, with four boys around a tiny table in a cluttered basement, that somehow everything went wrong. 

“Something is coming, something hungry for blood,” began Mark, his voice taking a graver tone, shadows castings around his eyes, “something growls on a wall behind you, spreading darkness all around”.

The rest of the boys lean over, their faces set in a mixture of fear, determination and even excitement, exchanging nervous looks for what was to come but not daring to interrupt their friend. 

“It is finally here,” Mark continues  dramatically . 

“What is it?” Jaemin finally burst out, unable to keep his agitation at check. Mark stays in silent for a while, letting the tension build up, and only watches as the rest of them hold their breath. 

“Guys, what if it’s the  Demogorgan ...?” Jeno wondered out loud, making everyone but Mark groan, “holly shit, we’re so screwed if it’s the  Demogorg - ”.

“It’s not the  Demogorgan ,”  Donghyuk cuts him off, just as Mark releases a yell, bringing out a figure from behind his campaign master book. 

“An army of troglodytes charges towards you!” He exclaims, making Jaemin jump startled and  Donghyuk smile smugly. 

“Ha, told  ya !”  Donghyuk rubbed in, doing a little “told you so” dance,  the rest only rolling their eyes at their friend’s dumb antics. 

“The queen of the  troglo dytes is a familiar face, you have faced her before, she raises her hammer and charges into your direction, letting out a brutal scream that rouses her comrades,” Mark continues the campaign swiftly, bringing the boys back to their fight mode. 

“Cast fireball!” Exclaimed Jeno.

“No way, ice spell!” Disagreed  Chenle .

“Hey, mark-”

“Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!” 

“Oi, Mark Lee-”

“I C E S P E L L” 

Jaemin bit his lips nervously, his head  pouding with all the screams and yells around him. He knew he had to make a decision, but it was becoming harder and harder every time his friends opened their mouths. On one hand, fireball would defeat the entire group, but he would need a natural 20 for that, on the other hand, an ice spell was his class specialty, but it would slow down his primary enemy. What to choose, what to choose...

In the end, he never got to make his choice, as he and his friends all watched in horror as their board flipped on the air, all the pieces spilling on the floor, the papers spreading around. 

“What the  fuc \- what- dude!” Mark yelled in rage, his angry eyes set on the looming figure of the culprit: his brother,  Taeyong.

“I called you a bunch of times! Party is over, your friends need to go home,”  Taeyong answered firmly, his older brother voice coming out in full force as he crossed his arms and stared down at his brother. 

“Your  mom’s have already called asking for you,” the older continued, then he turned to  Chenle and continued, “your mom has been blowing our phone for over an hour, you better get your ass home before she calls the police,  _ again _ ”

Chenle’s face lost all color, the boy nodding and quickly springing on his feet. He started stuffing his things on his bags, some weren’t even his, but that wasn’t important right now. His mom could be a little bit too dramatic sometimes and was worried she wouldn’t let him leave the house again if he got home after the curfew. 

“Oh c’mon, it’s the last day of summer vacations, can’t we play for a little longer?”  Donghyuk whined but he kept packing his stuff, he knew the answer would most likely be no, he just wanted to whine.

“It’s precisely because of that, school’s starts tomorrow, summer is over, now go!” it was the final thing  Taeyong said before he left the basement, his steps echoing heavily on the sudden silence that settled on the place. 

All the five boys stared into nothing as they thought about how that summer felt way too short, all their adventures and fun seeming small as the looming threat of 8 th grade drew nearer. Their musings and worries got cut was Chenle suddenly release a yell. 

“I have to be home in 20!”

After that all the boys scattered, each of them gathering their things and hoping on their bicycles. The first ones to cycle away were  Donghyuk and Chenle, as they lived nearby, then Jeno finished telling the movie he saw over the weekend and pedaled away too. In the end, only Jaemin and Mark were left. Mark stayed in silence, waiting for his friend to gather his thoughts before speaking. 

“Here, I would’ve casted fireball,” Jaemin finally breathed out, handing Mark the  troglodyte boss piece to him before hopping on his bike and going away with a wave. 

“That was the right choice!” Mark yelled back at him, waving earnestly as his friend looked back long enough to give him a smile. 

Jaemin’s house wasn’t anywhere near his other friend’s homes, it wasn’t even that near the town they lived on. With a car, you could go from downtown to his house in around 30 minutes, it took way longer on his old bike, way too long. That’s why he always took a shortcut through the forest, not only it cut him some time but also allowed him to sneak into his house without his older brother finding out. 

Of course, that night was nothing different, as Jaemin entered the woods right after the town’s only outdoor, a giant and ugly Coke ad, his bike shaking as he went over dead leaves and twigs. It was a cold night, something not common at all to that time of the year, but Jaemin blamed the trees, the woods were always cooler than the neighborhoods. His mind was too preoccupied for him to really think of the shift of temperature, he was supposed to make the next campaign for them to play before the Halloween, and he knew it was a bit far, but his mind was already brimming with ideas and scenarios. A good campaign took weeks, months, to be ready, to be perfected. 

He was halfway home when he first felt it. One time, when Jaemin was five, his asshole neighbor left his violent dog loose and the animal ran up to him, his big teeth shinning with drool and his eyes holding zero human emotions. Jaemin was terrified, his whole body felt like it was burning, his head spinning, and then it felt like a bucket of ice was poured on him on his neck down. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t cry, he couldn’t even process his feelings. His mom had hoisted him up, protect him with her body was the animal jumped around them, its teeth grazing his ankles.

It was only when his father, and that was one of his only memories where the man was actually present, physically pulled the dog back and kick it out of their property was that Jaemin found himself able to cry. After that, the waterworks went on for hours, the little boy shaking and refusing to get off his mother’s lap. That day, his mom had held him tightly, whispering sweet reassurances to him, all meaningless but still helped him relax a bit. It was when Jaemin started to understand just how much his mother was willing to do for him.

Right then, as he pulled up beside a large tree, Jaemin wished more than ever that his mother was there with him, so she could hold his hand and kiss his forehead, she would make him feel safe. He didn’t know what it was, what gave him the feelings, but he knew there was something there with him, something that wanted to get him just like that dog wanted all those years ago. Once more, his body felt hot, he began to sweat, his increasingly ragged breath fogging on the chilling air. Then, a snap of a twig to his right, the sound like a bucket of ice on his flaming body. 

His clammy hands trembled as he held his bike’s handles, squeezing them on a failed attempt to ground himself. He wanted his mom so bad, he wanted her to hug him and reassure him. Jaemin knew his mom was working at that moment, but he knew his brother was waiting for him. His brother would protect him, he was sure. That thought drove Jaemin to move, he climbed his bike again, trying his best to ignore the ruffling of leaves from the same place as the twig snap. Then, Jaemin pedaled, as fast as he could, going on a full sprint.

Whatever it was on the forest with him, seemed to be following him, but he refused to look back, he kept looking forward, kept looking to where his house would soon show up. Eventually, when Jaemin could finally see his house, he stopped listening to any other noises besides his own. He eventually slowed down, eventually getting to his porch, where he ditched his bike, and finally to his front door. 

Jaemin breathed a sigh of relief, he was finally home. Everything would be fine now, Yuta would be home, he could tell his brother what happened, they would call the police to say there was a loose animal on the woods, and then Jaemin would be able to go back to worrying about starting 8 th grade. 

It didn’t work that way.  Of course it didn’t. When Jaemin tried to open the front door, his stomach dropped when he realized it was locked. Yuta wasn’t home, he was supposed to be home, but he wasn’t. Yuta wasn’t home and now Jaemin was locked out of his house and the animal was out there and Jaemin was alone, what was he going to do, what was he supposed to do?

Suddenly, he remembered the shack. Right, where they kept all their tools, and his dad’s old shotgun, everyone thought he didn’t know about it, but he was glad he did. He entered the shack, the lock had been broken for months and his brother never got around fixing it, and quickly procured the shotgun. With it loaded  and on his hands , Jaemin felt a little bit safer. His breath was still on the harder side, and his hands were slippery and trembling, the cold feel of the gun never holding a candle to the warmth he craved from his family, but it was the best he could do.

The overhead light twitched, the cold coming back full force again. Jaemin held the gun tighter, he was right to go to the shack, the animal had found him again after all. He still didn’t know what it was, and he  definetely didn’t know how to shoot a gun, but he still thought he had a good chance of protecting himself, at least until Yuta or his mom came home. 

“Please come quickly,” Jaemin repeated under his breath, crouching on the corner, covering his ears as he heard the creature’s claws rasp at the door. A bang, another bang, the animal was hitting on the door. The boy let out a strangled cry, tears streaming down his face. He pointed the gun to the door direction, ready to shoot if the animal managed to come in. Like it never was there, the banging stopped.

Jaemin stayed still as a rock, waiting for something to happen, but nothing he did. Just to make sure the creature was really gone, he crawled to near the door, peeking his eyes on the little gap there. The lights flickered again, startling Jaemin at first and then calming him down when he realized it was just the old light bulb acting out. He breathed, slowly putting the gun to the ground, the animal probably lost interest on him and went back to the woods.

The lights flickered again, the cold coming back full force, making Jaemin’s hair stand like a startled cat. The animal had come back? Where was it? Jaemin tried to look around from the gap but saw nothing. Was he actually becoming sick? Surely, the animal wasn’t back, right? The light flickered, he heard a growl, making him  stifle a scream with his fist. It wasn’t gone.

But it didn’t matter, right? The animal already tried to get into the shack and didn’t work, as long as Jaemin stayed inside, he’d be safe. 

He heard another growl, this time too close, too real. Jaemin’s whole body froze. How, how could this be. Was he dreaming? Was this just an elaborate, vivid nightmare? 

He didn’t know what compelled him, maybe it was the need to see if it was true, or the need to prove himself wrong. Whatever it was, Jaemin looked back. It was right there, the most terrifying thing he had ever seen, something not even his creativity filled little brain could ever think about, something that even thrillers would have troubles with. He didn’t know how, but it was inside with him. 

The lights went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope yall liked it  
> dont forget to tell me what yall liked it!  
> Tumblr: monxcarat  
> Twitter: fishermanjaebum


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